HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder
HTML Entities Encoder
Convert special characters to HTML entities
Common HTML Entities
Basic
Symbols
Math
Greek
About HTML Entities Encoder/Decoder Tool
What are HTML Entities?
HTML entities are special codes used to display reserved characters, symbols, and special characters in HTML documents. They begin with an ampersand (&) and end with a semicolon (;). HTML entities are essential for properly displaying characters that have special meaning in HTML or characters that aren't available on standard keyboards.
Why Use HTML Entities?
- Display Reserved Characters: Show characters like <, >, and & without triggering HTML parsing.
- Special Symbols: Display symbols like ©, ®, ™, and € correctly in web pages.
- Cross-Browser Compatibility: Ensure consistent character display across different browsers.
- Prevent XSS Attacks: Encode user input to prevent cross-site scripting vulnerabilities.
- Unicode Support: Display characters from various languages and symbol sets.
Common Use Cases
- Web Development: Properly display special characters in HTML content.
- Security: Sanitize user input to prevent XSS attacks.
- Content Management: Store and display special characters in databases.
- Email Templates: Ensure special characters render correctly in emails.
- XML/RSS Feeds: Encode special characters for valid XML syntax.
- API Responses: Properly encode text data in JSON/XML responses.
Types of HTML Entities
- Named Entities: Human-readable names like © for ©
- Numeric Entities (Decimal): Decimal code points like © for ©
- Numeric Entities (Hexadecimal): Hex code points like © for ©
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When should I use HTML entities?
Use HTML entities whenever you need to display reserved HTML characters (<, >, &, "), special symbols (©, ®, €), or characters not available on your keyboard. They're especially important when displaying user-generated content to prevent XSS attacks.
Do I need to encode all special characters?
Not necessarily. You must encode reserved HTML characters (<, >, &, ") to prevent them from being interpreted as HTML. Other special characters can be displayed directly if your HTML document uses UTF-8 encoding, but using entities ensures better compatibility.
What's the difference between named and numeric entities?
Named entities use descriptive names (©), making them easy to remember but limited to predefined characters. Numeric entities use Unicode code points (©) and can represent any Unicode character, but are harder to remember.
How do HTML entities help prevent XSS attacks?
By encoding characters like < and >, HTML entities prevent malicious scripts from being executed. When you encode user input, script tags like <script> become visible text instead of executable code, protecting your website from XSS vulnerabilities.
Can I use HTML entities in JavaScript?
HTML entities are primarily for HTML. In JavaScript, you'd typically use Unicode escape sequences (\u00A9) or String.fromCharCode(). However, if you're inserting text into the DOM, you can use HTML entities with innerHTML.
Best Practices
- Always Encode User Input: Protect against XSS by encoding all user-generated content.
- Use UTF-8 Encoding: Set charset="UTF-8" in your HTML to support international characters.
- Choose Named Entities for Common Symbols: Use © instead of © for better readability.
- Encode Ampersands in URLs: Use & in href attributes to maintain valid HTML.
- Test Cross-Browser: Verify entity rendering across different browsers and devices.
- Use Server-Side Encoding: Encode data on the server before sending to clients.
Common HTML Entities Reference
| Character | Named Entity | Numeric Entity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| < | < | < | Less than |
| > | > | > | Greater than |
| & | & | & | Ampersand |
| " | " | " | Quotation mark |
| © | © | © | Copyright |
| ® | ® | ® | Registered trademark |
Related Development Tools
Related Development Tools Tools
Explore more tools similar to html-entities-encoder-decoder in the Development Tools category
- JavaScript Minifier - Format or minify your JavaScript code with this simple tool.
- HTML to JSX Converter - Convert HTML to JSX and JSX to HTML with this simple tool.
- HTML Viewer - View the HTML of a web page.
- Regex Tester - Test your regular expressions with this simple tool.
- CSS Minifier - Minify your CSS with this simple tool.
- JSON Beautifier - Beautify your JSON with this simple tool.
- Decode/Encode URL - Decode or encode URLs with this simple tool.
- Markdown Viewer - View and render Markdown content with this simple tool.
- Color Picker - Pick colors and generate color codes with this simple tool.
- Base64 Encoder - Encode text to Base64 with this simple tool.
- Base64 Decoder - Decode Base64 strings back to text with dual encode/decode functionality.
- UUID Generator - Generate UUIDs with this simple tool.
- Link Preview - Get a preview of a web page with this simple tool.
- SCSS/SASS Viewer - View and convert SCSS/SASS to CSS with this simple tool.
- BBCode to HTML Converter - Convert BBCode to HTML with this simple tool.
- Escape Tool - Escape special characters with this simple tool.
- HTML Validator - Validate HTML code with this simple tool.
- CSS Layout Generator - Generate CSS layouts with this simple tool.
- CSS Shadow Generator - Generate CSS shadows with this simple tool.
- HTML to PDF Converter - Convert HTML to PDF with this simple tool.
- Htaccess Redirect Generator - Generate .htaccess redirect rules easily.
- Lorem Ipsum Generator - Generate customizable Lorem Ipsum placeholder text.
- Fake Data Generator - Generate realistic placeholder data for testing or demos.
- HTML Minifier - Minify HTML code with this simple tool.
- Timestamp Converter - Convert timestamps with this simple tool.
- CSV to JSON Converter - Convert CSV files to JSON with this simple tool.
- JSON to CSV Converter - Convert JSON files to CSV with this simple tool.
- API Test - Test your API with this simple tool.
- Hex Encoder/Decoder - Convert text to hexadecimal encoding and decode hex back to text.
- Binary Encoder/Decoder - Convert text to binary encoding and decode binary back to text.
- Text Diff Checker - Compare two texts and visualize differences with color-coded display.
- JSON Minifier - Compress JSON by removing whitespace and reducing file size.
- JSON Validator - Validate and format JSON data with error detection.
- XML to JSON Converter - Convert XML data to JSON format instantly.
- YAML to JSON Converter - Convert YAML configuration files to JSON format.
- Whitespace Remover - Remove unwanted whitespace from text with multiple removal modes.